{"id":780,"date":"2026-11-12T22:49:02","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T22:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/12\/emotional-pat-cummins-responds-to-usman-khawajas-sandpaper-claims\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T22:49:02","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T22:49:02","slug":"emotional-pat-cummins-responds-to-usman-khawajas-sandpaper-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/12\/emotional-pat-cummins-responds-to-usman-khawajas-sandpaper-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional Pat Cummins responds to Usman Khawaja\u2019s sandpaper claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Updated on 1 minute ago by Charbel Coorey<\/a><\/p>\n

An emotional Pat Cummins has not held back in response of Usman Khawaja\u2019s claim that everyone knew<\/a> about sandpapergate in 2018. The Australian captain faced the media on Friday morning at Cricket NSW, starting with his own statements before answering questions.<\/p>\n

Cummins began by emphatically denying the comments before questioning Khawaja\u2019s actions as a friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he [Usman Khawaja] says \u201cwe all knew\u201d, and by that he means, \u2018we knew sandpaper was going out onto the field\u2019, he\u2019s 100% wrong,\u201d Cummins said. \u201cI\u2019ve said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think Usman says things that are far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That\u2019s complete and utter nonsense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman had told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper. That\u2019s not the Usman that I know. It\u2019s not the Usman that has been part of a team that has helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years. And the Usman that would\u2019ve stopped that from happening there and then.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsman is a friend but friends are not casual with each other\u2019s lives and reputations. In his book, Uzzy is being casual with my life and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support his right to tell a story, 100%, and I\u2019m glad that he feels that he can. But we have to be accountable for the things we say and do.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Todd Greenberg says Cricket Australia will not re-open the sandpaper investigation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNonsense\u201d: Pat Cummins emphatically denies Usman Khawaja\u2019s comments on the sandpaper ball tampering scandal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Before taking questions, Cummins admitted there was a \u2018win-at-all-costs\u2019 mentality within the Australian group in 2018. He also said there were different silos which he has tried hard to eradicate over the past six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat team had a win-at-all-costs mentality, it had an ugly underbelly, and there was too many silos within the team; traits that I hope everyone has seen and I\u2019ve tried very hard to eradicate for the last six years as captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his book Sabr<\/em>, Khawaja claims he stood up and said to own the scandal as a team. Cummins says he and others do not remember this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember any conversation around collective responsibility. I don\u2019t remember any team meeting where he stood up and said, \u201cLet\u2019s own this as a team.\u201d So then, you know, to follow-on note, I got no idea who those two people would be, because I don\u2019t remember being asked or having a conversation about it,\u201d Cummins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely don\u2019t remember that. And sorry, and I have spoken to quite a few other people and exactly the same, trying to piece it altogether, no-one remembers a team meeting where someone stood up and said, \u2018we got to all own this.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cTo bring it up so casually and flippingly is irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummins also responded to claims that everyone must have known given the team shares a dressing room. He said that international dressing rooms are different and the Cape Town setting has two separate changing rooms \u2013 along with a dining room and viewing balcony \u2013 meaning there \u201cis probably going to be different accounts\u201d of the events that took place.<\/p>\n

Usman Khawaja has never asked me what I know \u2013 Pat Cummins<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cummins says Khawaja hasn\u2019t spoken to him about his recollections of sandpapergate. Cummins also says he was unaware of any plans regarding sandpaper use in the previous Test at Port Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsman has never actually asked me or anyone else what we know,\u201d Cummins says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a bit of chat around the last couple of months, but more surrounding the unknown, not what he was going to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat Cummins speaks to Steve Smith, yet to speak to David Warner<\/strong><\/h2>\n

David Warner came out in support<\/a> of Usman Khawaja\u2019s comments. The former opener, who was banned for 12 months following Cape Town, says lies will eventually come out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not spoken to Davey in the last week or so,\u201d Cummins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, you know, similar \u2013 it\u2019s really hard. Like, this is affecting people\u2019s livings, and, like, I can\u2019t imagine what particularly those three [Smith, Warner, Bancroft] went through and their families. So it\u2019s really difficult. But, you know, I have not spoken to Davey yet, I\u2019m sure I will at some stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummins says he has spoken with Steve Smith, who is currently in New York. The former captain is keen to move on.<\/p>\n

More to come\u2026.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Emotional Pat Cummins responds to Usman Khawaja\u2019s sandpaper claims<\/a> appeared first on CricBlog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Updated on 1 minute ago by Charbel Coorey An emotional Pat Cummins has not held back in response of Usman Khawaja\u2019s claim that everyone knew about sandpapergate in 2018. The Australian captain faced the media on Friday morning at Cricket NSW, starting with his own statements before answering questions. Cummins began by emphatically denying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}